The improvements in technology makes it possible for portable devices, such as portable phones, to do more. Power delivery mechanisms such as batteries improve. The processors and coprocessing circuits improve. The devices can do more as time goes on.
Electronic circuits in portable devices such as phones are often used to take, play and/or edit pictures, and/or take/play/edit videos. The circuitry in a phone or other device is also often used for the transmit and receive function. The processors are often used to carry out position detection, e.g., by GPS. Future telephones may also carry out a number of other features beyond these.
It is important to keep these portable telephones to small, so that they get reasonably good user acceptance.